TLV Application
User Name/Nick: Kota
User LJ: waningsunflower
AIM/IM: BLAH
E-mail: BLAH
Other Characters: Iago, Capa, Jane, Beatty
Character Name: Sheogorath
Series: The Elder Scrolls
Age: Really, really old. In the thousands of years
From When?: Just before the Greymarch, as he’s about to turn into Jyggalag. I’m going to say that’s as close to a canon “death” as he’s going to get. Upon arrival to the barge, the transformation halts and he turns completely back into Sheogorath.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. He’s a Daedric prince, considered quite evil, but that’s not really so. See the path to redemption for more details. He delights in driving people to insanity, simply for his own amusement. He takes pleasure in his own demented ways.
Abilities/Powers: A lot of his powers come from being in the Madhouse, the Shivering Isles, also known as his own plane of Oblivion. There, he can manipulate the weather, transport people straight up into the air, use magical fire and use his cane/staff to freeze time for everyone but the castor. He’s Prince and Lord of that land, naturally. It’s assumed that he basically has divine powers, even outside of the Madhouse. However, he doesn’t like to use them, preferring instead to talk mortals into doing what he wants. Because of that, I’m going to have him totally nixed of all offensive powers. He’s going to retain his enhanced strength, healing and speed, about the same as an inmate vampire would be. So he’s able to be killed in this form.
Also, as a side note, I’d like him to retain his ability to see the madness in people (including addictions and creative madness, like would be in obsessive writers/painters/musicians/etc) in others. This will definitely be something I coordinate oocly and it is very possible for him not to see it, if the players do not wish it.
Personality: Sheogorath isn’t really a god, but he’s known as the Madgod. The unknowable madgod. He does what he does simply because he can. There are a couple of myths about him that support this claim, most of them involving messing about with the lives of mortals for his own amusement. He doesn’t really value mortal lives at all, choosing instead to invest his time and energy into destroying their minds in order to “help” them. He truly does feel like those who are mad are saner than other people. He feels as if they have a greater insight into the world than anyone else and he will push and push and push mortals into insanity so that they can really see. He sends the Hero of Kvatch through several quests in order to try and make them truly understand what it is like to be mad. Either on the Dementia side or the Mania side. He doesn’t really care, as long as they have lost touch with reality in some way.
To understand Sheogorath, you would have to understand both sides of him. There is the Mania side, the one filled with creativity and frantic thoughts. This is the side the favors brightly colored plants and animals and fabrics. The people who live under the influence of this side are energetic and slightly unfocused, going about their lives with a frenzied energy to pursue vague and sometimes useless projects. This part of him prefers sweets and candies and laughter, taunting others with a kind of playful malevolence and threatening to pluck out eyes or skip rope with intestines. It’s overindulgence in drugs and other mind altering substances, as well, though Sheogorath doesn’t do this himself (presumably because they would have no effect on him), he does encourage it in others.
The dementia side of him is a much darker state. It encourages paranoia and physical torture, as well as an affinity for simply ripping mortals apart for his games. The mortals who reside under the influence of this are dark and deeply paranoid, believing themselves to be followed or otherwise tormented by things that either don’t exist or that only they can see. Sheogorath indulges in this side of himself often, though he rarely has any reason to truly be paranoid. He does fall into fits of depression, especially when thinking about the upcoming Greymarch, but he doesn’t allow himself to fall too far down.
He tries to seamlessly integrate these two sides of himself into one person, but there is a reason that he is called a Madgod. Capricious and prone to violence or violent thoughts, he’s not a Prince to be taken lightly. People who try to seek favor with him usually find themselves stark raving mad within a week. His subjects, those who worship him in his city in the Isles, both love and fear him, though all of them suffer from some sort of madness every day of their life. He prefers it like that. He considers madness as a gift, and those willing to take it on and live with it are most worthy to be his subjects.
He recognizes that madness in himself, as well. He embraces it completely and truly loves that he is so unpredictable and flighty. He hates all things orderly or patterned and actively strives to stay away from it. So those capricious ways are a part of him, yes, but he has no inclination to change his ways. They’re the one thing that separates him from the rest of the world, from the other Daedric Princes. He is very proud of the fact that he takes in those that others have cast aside. His main goal in Mundus, the dimension of the mortals, is to have them all know insanity. He obviously doesn’t see this as a detriment, but rather an enhancement.
And so he does find favor with mortals, especially Haskill, his servant, who is most likely the sanest person that he knows. He’s extremely loyal to Haskill and does appreciate all the work that he does, though he often likes to make fun of him and tease him. He’s very fond of the mortals around him, but like any divinity, he does recognize that mortals will soon die, so he doesn’t get too attached of them. He’s more than happy to replace them when they do go away, but while they’re around, he does show them favor.
However, one doesn’t have to be a part of his court or near to him in order for him to find them interesting or worthy of his notice. He also bestows favor on the mad, as he can normally sense the madness in another person. He finds the addicts, the mad artists, the creatives and the deranged. He finds the sadists and the underappreciated and takes them under his wing, guiding and keeping them when no one else wanted them. In Baedal, though, he will realize that he’s under the watch of gods, of true gods, so he won’t actively try and find a following. Even in canon, he doesn’t actively try to seek out followers anymore, as he simply assumes they will find his way to him. And any who seek out his favor will be driven mad by him, simply by association. He doesn’t worry himself with the numbers who follow him, but rather the quality of the madness they keep inside.
In addition to the people who hold the madness inside of him, Sheogorath also takes pleasure in the things that come from that madness. He surrounds himself with art and architecture from his people and delights in their music and dancing. If he could have his way, the whole world would be full of mad creators who did nothing but paint or write or torture (as that, too, is an art form for him) until they fell over dead. He doesn’t indulge in these things himself, of course, but he appreciates what comes out of it. This also stems from his fascination with mortals in general. He pities them and finds them terribly boring, which is why he delights in madness. The mad are the ones who are the most entertaining for him. He considers madness a kind of mercy for them.
He will certainly not be competition or see himself as competition for the gods. He prefers to sit in his own corner and be happy. Of course, the nature of his madness means that he is not exactly set to doing one thing and his mind will change at a whim. Even if he got it in his mind to do something or to rebel, it is very likely, actually…more of a certainty, that he will find something else that interests him quickly and will go on to other things. Sheogorath isn’t one to sit and ponder for long periods of time. The only exception was the Greymarch, but that was when Jyggalag was beginning to take him over again and his mind was returning to sanity and order.
He does form relationships with people other than mad ones. It's just that he tends to gravitate towards that and they gravitate towards him. This is shown by his relationship with both Haskill and the hero of Kvatch, who were not mad. While he won't try to actively drive people to insanity in this setting, it doesn't mean that he will isolate himself. In fact, it's rather the opposite. He's a social man, prone to flighty, though often demented conversations, and games for his own amusement. While its not likely that he will form deep, meaningful relationships with a lot of people (though he isn't opposed to it) , he is more than willing to go and tease, taunt and otherwise get reactions out of people. He's a little bit like a troll, but a very twisted one.
He also doesn't like to be by himself and so will seek out those who can tolerate his capricious ways.
Path to Redemption: Sheogorath needs to realize that he has been acting out of his own personal gain instead of for the benefit of his people. He genuinely cares about his people and has a great respect for them. He considers the citizens of his land as the “backbone.” But he simply doesn’t know how to go about it. They follow him, but he only seems to care about the madness they carry inside of them. He needs a very strong willed warden, as he will just try to manipulate and drive his warden, literally, mad. To motivate him properly, he needs to be given power and responsibility slowly, very slowly, so that he learns not to abuse it. A potential warden wouldn’t really get very far by trying to threaten and intimidate him, as he would never really understand it.
As far as what else he needs for his redemption, a dose of understanding that he needs to nurture the madness in others, rather than drive them to it. While this may be controversial as far as redemptions go, he is and remains the Daedric Prince of Madness. To take that away would be detrimental and would change him completely, as well as lead to futile efforts on both ends. He can’t change what he is.
He is also known to get fairly attached to the people that he works closely with. Mortals or otherwise. His steward, Haskill, is probably his best and only real friend. There is an ability to get close to him, if a warden so wishes, but they would have to be able to deal with his particularly interesting brand of “friendship.” However, this isn’t something he needs. He needs, to condense this down further, to change the way that he goes about doing his “godly” duties.
History: To go through the history of Sheogorath would have to begin with the origin of the world. He is Daedra, a type of divine being found all around Nirn, their world. They typically inhabit the plane of Oblivion, which is another dimension of Nirn that mortals usually don’t cross, unless invited or pulled, and there are only a handful of Daedric Princes, which Sheogorath is one, who each rule their own plane of Oblivion.
“Originally, Sheogorath was one of the Daedric Princes the Chimer, now Dunmer, revered in their ancient ancestral worship. However, when the Tribunal Temple became the dominating religion in Morrowind, Sheogorath, as well as Mehrunes Dagon, Malacath, and Molag Bal, became known as one of the "Four Corners of the House of Troubles." He was said to rebel against the Tribunal, and thusly worship of Sheogorath became punishable by death. His role in Dunmeri culture is to test them for any psychological weakness, and is associated with the fear other races have of the Dunmer.
When he rebelled against the Tribunal, Sheogorath tricked the moon Baar Dau, inspiring it to hurl itself at the city of Vivec. Sheogorath justified his actions by claiming Vivec was built in mockery of the heavens. Vivec is then said to have frozen Baar Dau in its descent. The moon then swore itself to the Tribunal's service forever. Today, the Tribunal Temple requires a pilgrimage to this moon, called the Shrine of Daring.”
In the ancient times, Sheogorath wasn’t really Sheogorath. Instead, he was known as Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order. However, the other Princes grew jealous of Jyggalag and his power and they cursed him to become the kind of person he hated- a Madgod, a Prince without Order. To increase the punishment on him, he was allowed to return at the end of each Era to his own body and destroy what Sheogorath had created. However, after Sheogorath’s forces were defeated, Jyggalag would revert back into the Madgod and he would be forced to rebuild his world. The cycle would start over again, and Sheogorath would forget about being Jyggalag until the next Era. The Hero of Kvatch stopped this cycle, but Sheogorath doesn’t quite know that yet.
The most pertinent type of history from him would be his time right up until the end of the Third Era, when the Greymarch (what Jyggalag’s takeover is called) would occur and he would be defeated. He invited the Hero of Kvatch to come forward after defeating his Gatekeeper. He needed someone to help him defeat Jyggalag, since he didn’t want the same thing to happen to him again. He had grown tired of the Greymarch and didn’t yet know who or what Jyggalag truly was. He helped the champion fully understand the ways of Dementia and Mania, as he was trying to groom them to become the new Sheogorath.
Sample Journal Entry: [The voice that comes over the network is full of laughter, the accent a mixture of over the top Scottish and Irish. Very over the top.] Well, well, what do we have? So many lost little lambs, ready for the shearing! And I don’t just mean the hair off your head, either! [He chuckles at his own humor.]
How about the whole head? Do you know what you can do with a head? Come now, be creative. [As an afterthought:] I won’t be taking any heads. Too much to do, especially when there’s no one around to clean it up. Dreadfully messy things, beheadings.
Sample RP: “My dining room is much nicer,” he remarked idly to himself as he wandered the edge of the table. His fingers lightly trailed around the edge of the plate he had gotten for himself (for himself! Barbaric mortals), and he finally sat down. He didn’t really know what the plant was that they had served. It was stringy, a little sour and smelled slightly of feet. And not in the good way. Sheo didn’t really like feet. The mortals seemed to enjoy it anyway. He took a hesitant bite of the “spinach” and pushed his plate away.
Nope. No. He wanted cheese. The Daedric prince didn’t need to eat any of this nonsense mortal food. He wanted cheese and wine and…brain pie. Oh yes. That seemed especially fabulous right about now. Standing up in protest, he walked away from the dining table in a huff, thinking that it might attract enough attention.
No one looked. Dejected and a little bit annoyed, he tried to summon something to get their attention. Maybe a giant mudcrab. Yes, yes that would do the trick! Except that he knew his powers were gone, and that meant that they weren’t going to work here. Which doubly annoyed him.
“You mortals,” he said with a mocking sort of laugh. “You are so used to what the Admiral gives you. But you could be eating something so much better. Maybe even…soup! Or pie! All you have to do is think it.” A cackle escaped him and he turned around and this time did make it all the way through the doors, thoroughly annoyed.
User LJ: waningsunflower
AIM/IM: BLAH
E-mail: BLAH
Other Characters: Iago, Capa, Jane, Beatty
Character Name: Sheogorath
Series: The Elder Scrolls
Age: Really, really old. In the thousands of years
From When?: Just before the Greymarch, as he’s about to turn into Jyggalag. I’m going to say that’s as close to a canon “death” as he’s going to get. Upon arrival to the barge, the transformation halts and he turns completely back into Sheogorath.
Inmate/Warden: Inmate. He’s a Daedric prince, considered quite evil, but that’s not really so. See the path to redemption for more details. He delights in driving people to insanity, simply for his own amusement. He takes pleasure in his own demented ways.
Abilities/Powers: A lot of his powers come from being in the Madhouse, the Shivering Isles, also known as his own plane of Oblivion. There, he can manipulate the weather, transport people straight up into the air, use magical fire and use his cane/staff to freeze time for everyone but the castor. He’s Prince and Lord of that land, naturally. It’s assumed that he basically has divine powers, even outside of the Madhouse. However, he doesn’t like to use them, preferring instead to talk mortals into doing what he wants. Because of that, I’m going to have him totally nixed of all offensive powers. He’s going to retain his enhanced strength, healing and speed, about the same as an inmate vampire would be. So he’s able to be killed in this form.
Also, as a side note, I’d like him to retain his ability to see the madness in people (including addictions and creative madness, like would be in obsessive writers/painters/musicians/etc) in others. This will definitely be something I coordinate oocly and it is very possible for him not to see it, if the players do not wish it.
Personality: Sheogorath isn’t really a god, but he’s known as the Madgod. The unknowable madgod. He does what he does simply because he can. There are a couple of myths about him that support this claim, most of them involving messing about with the lives of mortals for his own amusement. He doesn’t really value mortal lives at all, choosing instead to invest his time and energy into destroying their minds in order to “help” them. He truly does feel like those who are mad are saner than other people. He feels as if they have a greater insight into the world than anyone else and he will push and push and push mortals into insanity so that they can really see. He sends the Hero of Kvatch through several quests in order to try and make them truly understand what it is like to be mad. Either on the Dementia side or the Mania side. He doesn’t really care, as long as they have lost touch with reality in some way.
To understand Sheogorath, you would have to understand both sides of him. There is the Mania side, the one filled with creativity and frantic thoughts. This is the side the favors brightly colored plants and animals and fabrics. The people who live under the influence of this side are energetic and slightly unfocused, going about their lives with a frenzied energy to pursue vague and sometimes useless projects. This part of him prefers sweets and candies and laughter, taunting others with a kind of playful malevolence and threatening to pluck out eyes or skip rope with intestines. It’s overindulgence in drugs and other mind altering substances, as well, though Sheogorath doesn’t do this himself (presumably because they would have no effect on him), he does encourage it in others.
The dementia side of him is a much darker state. It encourages paranoia and physical torture, as well as an affinity for simply ripping mortals apart for his games. The mortals who reside under the influence of this are dark and deeply paranoid, believing themselves to be followed or otherwise tormented by things that either don’t exist or that only they can see. Sheogorath indulges in this side of himself often, though he rarely has any reason to truly be paranoid. He does fall into fits of depression, especially when thinking about the upcoming Greymarch, but he doesn’t allow himself to fall too far down.
He tries to seamlessly integrate these two sides of himself into one person, but there is a reason that he is called a Madgod. Capricious and prone to violence or violent thoughts, he’s not a Prince to be taken lightly. People who try to seek favor with him usually find themselves stark raving mad within a week. His subjects, those who worship him in his city in the Isles, both love and fear him, though all of them suffer from some sort of madness every day of their life. He prefers it like that. He considers madness as a gift, and those willing to take it on and live with it are most worthy to be his subjects.
He recognizes that madness in himself, as well. He embraces it completely and truly loves that he is so unpredictable and flighty. He hates all things orderly or patterned and actively strives to stay away from it. So those capricious ways are a part of him, yes, but he has no inclination to change his ways. They’re the one thing that separates him from the rest of the world, from the other Daedric Princes. He is very proud of the fact that he takes in those that others have cast aside. His main goal in Mundus, the dimension of the mortals, is to have them all know insanity. He obviously doesn’t see this as a detriment, but rather an enhancement.
And so he does find favor with mortals, especially Haskill, his servant, who is most likely the sanest person that he knows. He’s extremely loyal to Haskill and does appreciate all the work that he does, though he often likes to make fun of him and tease him. He’s very fond of the mortals around him, but like any divinity, he does recognize that mortals will soon die, so he doesn’t get too attached of them. He’s more than happy to replace them when they do go away, but while they’re around, he does show them favor.
However, one doesn’t have to be a part of his court or near to him in order for him to find them interesting or worthy of his notice. He also bestows favor on the mad, as he can normally sense the madness in another person. He finds the addicts, the mad artists, the creatives and the deranged. He finds the sadists and the underappreciated and takes them under his wing, guiding and keeping them when no one else wanted them. In Baedal, though, he will realize that he’s under the watch of gods, of true gods, so he won’t actively try and find a following. Even in canon, he doesn’t actively try to seek out followers anymore, as he simply assumes they will find his way to him. And any who seek out his favor will be driven mad by him, simply by association. He doesn’t worry himself with the numbers who follow him, but rather the quality of the madness they keep inside.
In addition to the people who hold the madness inside of him, Sheogorath also takes pleasure in the things that come from that madness. He surrounds himself with art and architecture from his people and delights in their music and dancing. If he could have his way, the whole world would be full of mad creators who did nothing but paint or write or torture (as that, too, is an art form for him) until they fell over dead. He doesn’t indulge in these things himself, of course, but he appreciates what comes out of it. This also stems from his fascination with mortals in general. He pities them and finds them terribly boring, which is why he delights in madness. The mad are the ones who are the most entertaining for him. He considers madness a kind of mercy for them.
He will certainly not be competition or see himself as competition for the gods. He prefers to sit in his own corner and be happy. Of course, the nature of his madness means that he is not exactly set to doing one thing and his mind will change at a whim. Even if he got it in his mind to do something or to rebel, it is very likely, actually…more of a certainty, that he will find something else that interests him quickly and will go on to other things. Sheogorath isn’t one to sit and ponder for long periods of time. The only exception was the Greymarch, but that was when Jyggalag was beginning to take him over again and his mind was returning to sanity and order.
He does form relationships with people other than mad ones. It's just that he tends to gravitate towards that and they gravitate towards him. This is shown by his relationship with both Haskill and the hero of Kvatch, who were not mad. While he won't try to actively drive people to insanity in this setting, it doesn't mean that he will isolate himself. In fact, it's rather the opposite. He's a social man, prone to flighty, though often demented conversations, and games for his own amusement. While its not likely that he will form deep, meaningful relationships with a lot of people (though he isn't opposed to it) , he is more than willing to go and tease, taunt and otherwise get reactions out of people. He's a little bit like a troll, but a very twisted one.
He also doesn't like to be by himself and so will seek out those who can tolerate his capricious ways.
Path to Redemption: Sheogorath needs to realize that he has been acting out of his own personal gain instead of for the benefit of his people. He genuinely cares about his people and has a great respect for them. He considers the citizens of his land as the “backbone.” But he simply doesn’t know how to go about it. They follow him, but he only seems to care about the madness they carry inside of them. He needs a very strong willed warden, as he will just try to manipulate and drive his warden, literally, mad. To motivate him properly, he needs to be given power and responsibility slowly, very slowly, so that he learns not to abuse it. A potential warden wouldn’t really get very far by trying to threaten and intimidate him, as he would never really understand it.
As far as what else he needs for his redemption, a dose of understanding that he needs to nurture the madness in others, rather than drive them to it. While this may be controversial as far as redemptions go, he is and remains the Daedric Prince of Madness. To take that away would be detrimental and would change him completely, as well as lead to futile efforts on both ends. He can’t change what he is.
He is also known to get fairly attached to the people that he works closely with. Mortals or otherwise. His steward, Haskill, is probably his best and only real friend. There is an ability to get close to him, if a warden so wishes, but they would have to be able to deal with his particularly interesting brand of “friendship.” However, this isn’t something he needs. He needs, to condense this down further, to change the way that he goes about doing his “godly” duties.
History: To go through the history of Sheogorath would have to begin with the origin of the world. He is Daedra, a type of divine being found all around Nirn, their world. They typically inhabit the plane of Oblivion, which is another dimension of Nirn that mortals usually don’t cross, unless invited or pulled, and there are only a handful of Daedric Princes, which Sheogorath is one, who each rule their own plane of Oblivion.
“Originally, Sheogorath was one of the Daedric Princes the Chimer, now Dunmer, revered in their ancient ancestral worship. However, when the Tribunal Temple became the dominating religion in Morrowind, Sheogorath, as well as Mehrunes Dagon, Malacath, and Molag Bal, became known as one of the "Four Corners of the House of Troubles." He was said to rebel against the Tribunal, and thusly worship of Sheogorath became punishable by death. His role in Dunmeri culture is to test them for any psychological weakness, and is associated with the fear other races have of the Dunmer.
When he rebelled against the Tribunal, Sheogorath tricked the moon Baar Dau, inspiring it to hurl itself at the city of Vivec. Sheogorath justified his actions by claiming Vivec was built in mockery of the heavens. Vivec is then said to have frozen Baar Dau in its descent. The moon then swore itself to the Tribunal's service forever. Today, the Tribunal Temple requires a pilgrimage to this moon, called the Shrine of Daring.”
In the ancient times, Sheogorath wasn’t really Sheogorath. Instead, he was known as Jyggalag, the Daedric Prince of Order. However, the other Princes grew jealous of Jyggalag and his power and they cursed him to become the kind of person he hated- a Madgod, a Prince without Order. To increase the punishment on him, he was allowed to return at the end of each Era to his own body and destroy what Sheogorath had created. However, after Sheogorath’s forces were defeated, Jyggalag would revert back into the Madgod and he would be forced to rebuild his world. The cycle would start over again, and Sheogorath would forget about being Jyggalag until the next Era. The Hero of Kvatch stopped this cycle, but Sheogorath doesn’t quite know that yet.
The most pertinent type of history from him would be his time right up until the end of the Third Era, when the Greymarch (what Jyggalag’s takeover is called) would occur and he would be defeated. He invited the Hero of Kvatch to come forward after defeating his Gatekeeper. He needed someone to help him defeat Jyggalag, since he didn’t want the same thing to happen to him again. He had grown tired of the Greymarch and didn’t yet know who or what Jyggalag truly was. He helped the champion fully understand the ways of Dementia and Mania, as he was trying to groom them to become the new Sheogorath.
Sample Journal Entry: [The voice that comes over the network is full of laughter, the accent a mixture of over the top Scottish and Irish. Very over the top.] Well, well, what do we have? So many lost little lambs, ready for the shearing! And I don’t just mean the hair off your head, either! [He chuckles at his own humor.]
How about the whole head? Do you know what you can do with a head? Come now, be creative. [As an afterthought:] I won’t be taking any heads. Too much to do, especially when there’s no one around to clean it up. Dreadfully messy things, beheadings.
Sample RP: “My dining room is much nicer,” he remarked idly to himself as he wandered the edge of the table. His fingers lightly trailed around the edge of the plate he had gotten for himself (for himself! Barbaric mortals), and he finally sat down. He didn’t really know what the plant was that they had served. It was stringy, a little sour and smelled slightly of feet. And not in the good way. Sheo didn’t really like feet. The mortals seemed to enjoy it anyway. He took a hesitant bite of the “spinach” and pushed his plate away.
Nope. No. He wanted cheese. The Daedric prince didn’t need to eat any of this nonsense mortal food. He wanted cheese and wine and…brain pie. Oh yes. That seemed especially fabulous right about now. Standing up in protest, he walked away from the dining table in a huff, thinking that it might attract enough attention.
No one looked. Dejected and a little bit annoyed, he tried to summon something to get their attention. Maybe a giant mudcrab. Yes, yes that would do the trick! Except that he knew his powers were gone, and that meant that they weren’t going to work here. Which doubly annoyed him.
“You mortals,” he said with a mocking sort of laugh. “You are so used to what the Admiral gives you. But you could be eating something so much better. Maybe even…soup! Or pie! All you have to do is think it.” A cackle escaped him and he turned around and this time did make it all the way through the doors, thoroughly annoyed.